Te’rnu shrugged. ‘It is likely. But getting inside would be impossible for us.’
‘Why?’ I asked, more to play devil’s advocate than anything else.
My friend looked at me incredulously. ‘“Why?” We… we are an Arellian. And a Terran.’
‘But what if we weren’t?’
‘You wish us to… change species?’ Te’rnu asked, looking no less sceptical than before.
‘No, obviously not. But how would they know what we are under a mechsuit?’
Te’rnu’s eyebrows raised so high, I thought they were going to fly off his face. ‘You want us to steal mechsuits?!’
‘What, you have moral qualms about stealing from the people who have been stealing from you your entire life?’
‘What do you mean?’
I stood up and began to pace, using my hands to gesticulate, punctuating my argument. ‘I mean… if you’re right about the Mutation, then the Iyr really aren’t doing you any favours by taking Arellians away. So what are the tributes if not thievery?’
Te’rnu said nothing.
‘I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, here, Te’rnu.’
He began to nod. ‘OK. You are right. If they can steal from us, then we can steal from them.’
‘There’s the Arellian I know!’ I said, voice raised with excitement.
‘I know where they keep them,’ Te’rnu followed up.
‘Even better!’ I cried out. ‘Where?’
‘There is a guard barracks. The Iyr took me there a few times - when they caught me in the city. It is near the gate. I can get us there.’
Satisfied that this plan was coming together, I took a seat back next to Te’rnu, and stared out onto the village.
‘We can do this, Te’rnu. We can find out the truth, and then…,’ I gestured to the town in front of us. ‘All their lives will be different.’
Te’rnu nodded, brow furrowed.
‘There’s something else that I’d like to do, while we’re in there…,’ I began.
‘What? As well as finding Melonaitopila?’
‘Yeah. You remember this?’
I pulled Leya’s journal from my bag, put it in Te’rnu’s hands. He brushed the sand from the front and inspected it, fascinated by the technology.
‘Yes… you said it was your sister’s diary?’
‘I’d like to decrypt it. Well, I’d like to decrypt the part of it that looks like it’s in the Iyr’s language. I tried, back at the outpost, but… the encryption is too complicated, it couldn’t handle it. I figure… the truth about the Mutation - if it exists - will be on their central computer libraries. If we can access that, then we should be able to decrypt the journal at the same time.’
Te’rnu shrugged, eyes vacant. ‘Sure.’
Oh yeah, never used a computer before. Note to self: dial back the tech-talk around Te’rnu.
‘It sounds like… we have a plan, then?’
‘Yes,’ Te’rnu replied, a slight smile on his face. ‘I think we do. At this time tomorrow…’
‘You could know the truth about the Mutation,’ I finished for him. ‘And I could save a young woman’s life, save my job, and maybe work out where my sister is. Wouldn’t be bad for a day’s work, would it?’
Te’rnu grinned - fully this time, his brilliantly white teeth catching the sun.
‘It would not be bad at all,’ he said.
We watched the villagers of Nu’r’ka in silence for a while. They went about their usual business, some cleaning up the feast of the night before, others simply going off to work. I let the sun wash over me, and mentally prepared myself for the day that was about to come.
We firmed up the details of the plan over the next few hours - and then waited until nightfall. Te’rnu had told me that we wouldn’t stand a chance of getting into the guard barracks undetected if we went during the day. What’s more, at night, the number of guards on duty would be minimal - most would be at home at this time, he had previously discovered.
Even at night, however, Te’rnu had often been caught. We could only hope that this wasn’t one of those times - an Arellian sneaking through the streets was one thing, but being caught breaking into the barracks would be so much worse.
We said our goodbyes to the town of Nu’r’ka and told them we would be back to visit soon. It seemed as though they had enjoyed our company - any excuse for a party, right? - even though both Te’rnu and I had potentially made fools of ourselves in our drunken states.
We headed off into the night, Te’rnu’s arms gripping me tightly as we took the shuttle-bike back towards the stronghold. When we were close, I slowed to allow him to jump off, and I continued on to return the rented bike. I definitely wasn’t going to risk the overtime fees out here, not after all my previous encounters with the abrasive Iyr.
I was pleased to see that there was nobody at the stall at this time of night, and so I would be able to avoid any irritating conversations with the local merchant. Having parked and locked my shuttle-bike up with the rest, and leaving a hastily scribbled note on it, I walked back into the wastelands to meet up with Te’rnu.
‘How did it go?’ Te’rnu asked me.
‘Nobody around. I just left it there.’
‘Will they know it is yours?’
‘That’s why I left a note.’
Te’rnu nodded, small talk complete, and led us towards the stronghold’s walls.
‘The gate’s that way, Te’rnu,’ I reminded him.
Te’rnu shook his head. ‘We are not going in through the gate. They would catch us that way. I have another way in.’
I said nothing, putting my faith in Te’rnu’s knowledge of the capital, and continued to follow him through the darkness.
We weaved through the gaps in the floodlights, taking our time so as not to be spotted - until we came to a small, rusty, grated entrance to some kind of tunnel.
‘What is it?’ I asked as Te’rnu pulled the grate away from it, allowing us entry.
‘The sewers,’ Te’rnu replied.
I nodded. ‘Of course it
